“Legal doesn’t necessarily mean fair, however, and our opinion on redistricting remains the same. The process in North Carolina is flawed and time consuming. It allows the party in power to protect incumbents by drawing districts in a way that dilutes the opposition’s strength. It takes choices away from voters.

That’s what Republicans did in 2011 by packing minorities into a handful of districts – including Rep. Mel Watt’s 12th District – and making surrounding districts more white and friendly to GOP candidates. Republicans also split voting districts – and even split single counties into multiple voting districts – in order to give themselves an electoral advantage….

There’s a better way. A majority of the N.C. House – 40 Democrats and 21 Republicans – is sponsoring a bill that would give the responsibility of district drawing to nonpartisan legislative staff. House Bill 606 also would require that staff to draw compact districts and would forbid the consideration of political criteria in the redistricting process.”

#2 comes from the Winston-Salem Journal. It takes the state Senate to task[2] for the absurd brand of voodoo economics it employed in its new state revenue projections:

“Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, defended his chamber’s latest tax plan last week, saying there will be plenty of new revenue to sustain state services.

On closer examination, Berger’s numbers look anything but conservative. He’s projecting 4.5-percent annual revenue growth even after cutting taxes so significantly. That’s not a cautious, or conservative, approach to state budgeting. It borders on recklessness.”